Solange's New Album Examines the Houston That Molded Her

The artist describes it as an "exploration of origin."

We knew it was coming, but not necessarily when. An October 2018 T Magazine profile laid out Solange's vision for an ambitious followup to her 2016 A Seat at the Table. The new album would be rooted in jazz, sprinkle in plenty of hip-hop drum, and, above all else, "make your trunk rattle."

She promised it by the end of fall, which came and went, and the project largely slipped our minds until crews were recently spotted filming music videos in the Third Ward and, finally, a Thursday Insta post that directed followers to dial the Mike Jones 281-330-8004 number to hear snippets of her new, 19-track album. When I Get Home dropped on streaming platforms early Friday morning.

Houston runs deep throughout the album. It's there in the themes and in the track titles—"Beltway," "Almeda," and "S McGregor," to name a few. You'll hear lyrics about swangas, and, as an effusive Instagram post from Solo's mom, Miss Tina Knowles, explains, there are trips to Frenchy's and their home off Binz lingering in the narrative. This album is, as the news release explains, an "exploration of origin."

“It asks the question, how much of ourselves do we bring with us versus leave behind in our evolution?" the release reads. "The artist returned to Third Ward Houston to answer this."

There will be an "album experience" held at nine locations around town this Sunday, March 3. Venues range from churches to the Ensemble Theatre to a hair salon, and, while they all appear to be at capacity, you might be able to catch a glimpse if you stake things out.

For the rest of us, Spotify will have to do. The sprawling track list includes collabs with everyone from Gucci Mane to Panda Bear to Tyler, the Creator—all to complement interludes containing timeless exhortations such as "do nothing without intention."

It'll take us a while to digest in its entirety, but our initial reaction mirrors that of something Miss Tina wrote in that same Insta post: "As we say in H-Town, you did dat gurl!"